Power Supply Fully Restored in Uzbekistan’s Surkhandarya Region

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — Electricity supply in Uzbekistan’s Surkhandarya region has been fully restored following an emergency in the Unified Power System of Central Asia that occurred at 14:38 on 14 August, the Ministry of Energy of Uzbekistan said.

The incident caused power supply disruptions in Uzbekistan and neighbouring countries. The Ministry of Energy explained that in large power systems, an emergency shutdown of individual power plants or transmission lines can disrupt the balance between electricity generation and consumption and lead to a drop in frequency. If not addressed in time, this can cause the emergency to spread to other regions, resulting in widespread outages and a system-wide failure.

In Uzbekistan, the spread of the emergency was prevented by emergency protection systems operating on the power grids and substations of National Electric Grid of Uzbekistan JSC. According to the ministry, the systems operated in a timely, complete and correct manner.

Battery energy storage systems (BESS) also played an additional role in restoring the power balance. After part of the generating capacity was lost, they enabled the required amount of electricity to be supplied to the grid within a short period. This helped restore the balance between generation and consumption and prevent a sharp drop in frequency.

The Ministry of Energy noted that restoring the lost capacity solely by starting power plants would have taken more time. Therefore, energy storage systems are important not only for storing electricity but also for maintaining power system stability during emergencies.

Surkhandarya region receives most of its electricity through two 500-kilovolt transmission lines. One supplies electricity from a neighbouring country, while the other runs from Kashkadarya region.

At the time of the emergency, one of the two lines was undergoing scheduled maintenance. The disconnection of the line supplying electricity from the neighbouring country limited the ability to quickly restore full power supply to Surkhandarya region.

During emergency response work, the 500-kilovolt line undergoing maintenance was brought back into service in compliance with safety requirements and switched on again. Electricity supply to the region was then fully restored in stages.

The Ministry of Energy stressed that investments made in the energy sector in recent years had demonstrated their practical importance during the emergency. In particular, the ability of energy storage systems to rapidly supply power to the grid, together with the operation of emergency protection systems, helped maintain power system stability and ensure energy security.